This is the crux.
2021 PL money
3. Chelsea
Actual League Position: 4th
No. Of Paid TV Games: 27
Estimated Prize Money: £158.2m
Estimated Rebate: £7.3m
Total: £150.9m
7. Tottenham
Actual League Position: 7th
No. Of Paid TV Games: 25
Estimated Prize Money: £145.7m
Estimated Rebate: £6.3m
Total: £139.4m
Just from finishing 4 places above us they made £11m more than us.
Those 4 places put them in the CL with at least 6 champions league games and the silly money per game.
They also won the last champions league last season. £23m for one game plus all the games leading up to it. Probably £120m+ for that run.
We played in the Ropey league which is embarrassing compared to the CL. Pocket money Vs serious income.
This year we're not even getting that.
Chelsea comprehensively out earn us legitimately. And the longer we're not in the CL the worse it gets.
That’s all fine and well but it discounts the fact we made UCL five years in a row including a final and during that period did not restrengthen an aging team when we had the opportunity and revenue streams to do so.
We are still paying for the 2016-2019 period where we did very little to improve the squad (Sissoko, Janssen, Sanchez, Aurier, Moura, Foyth, Llorente, Wanyama) when we were in title races and regularly in the UCL knockout stages.
If we had bought better and more, those would be the players that stepped up to replace Toby, Vertonghen, Walker, Dembele, Eriksen, Kane, etc.
Instead, most of the players we bought from those windows are either already gone or are basically deadwood. The only one we aren’t actively trying to offload is Moura, which is controversial in its own right. So we’re trying to conduct a massive rebuild because our signings in the period where we were at our best and most attractive as a destination were hideous.
And that’s not even addressing the fact that our following two windows when we realized the team was falling apart and we needed to spend haven’t exactly been great. Lo Celso, Ndombele, Sess, Reguilon, Doherty, Rodon, and Bergwijn still have it all to prove. And all those signings except Rodon and Doherty were 25m+. Only Hojbjerg has really proved himself to be quality, consistent, and healthy.
Our recruitment has let us down massively since we became a UCL regular. The centerpieces of our best teams Kane, Eriksen, Dembele, Dier, Vertonghen, Walker, Lloris, Son, Rose, Alderweireld were all bought before being UCL regulars. Brutal how we’ve replaced and added to them.
We can’t just blame not being as rich as City, Chelsea, United etc. We’ve squandered hundreds of millions over the last five years.